Thomas w



(No Model.)

T W, MATHER.

AUTOMATIC BOILER FEEDER.

i; 'i Z u N PEYERs. Phuleuthognphor. Washington D. c.

UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

- THOMAS W. MATHER, on NEW HAVEN, court, ASSIGNOR TO THE Auro- MATIC SAFETY BOILER AND ENGINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

AUTOMATIC BOILER FEEDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 272,730, dated February 20, 1883. Application filed November 27, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS \V. MATHER, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented ,a new Improvement in Automatic Boiler-Feeders;

and I do hereby declare the following, whentaken in connectionwith accompanying drawin gand theletters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,,and which said drawing constitutes part of this specification, and represents a vertical section.

This invention relates to an improvementin apparatus for automatically supplying water to a steam-boiler, the object being to maintain a constantlevel in the boiler, and if, perchanee, the water should rise above that level the surplus will be taken from the bgiler, or, falling below, the deficiency will be supplied; and it consists in two pumps acting together, the one drawing the wateg from the supply and delivering it to the other, the said other pump serving to force the water into the boiler if there be too little or draw it therefrom if the water he too high, combinedwitha valve arrangement whereby the surplus from the boiler and the surplus from the'suction will be thrown to waste, all as more fully hereinafter described.

A is the pump-cylinder, in which works the plunger B in the usual manner for plungerpumps; a, the valve, which works in the inlet water-way b, opening toward the plunger, so that as the plunger rises water will pass in through the valve-opening, and as the plunger descends the valve will close to prevent the return of the water.

0 is the second pump-cylinder, preferably arranged in axial line with the plunger-pump A, and with a rod, D, extending from the plunger' through the cylinder, and provided with a piston, E, within the cyl1nder,so that the piston and the plunger work together.

(I is a passage leading from the boiler'at the level of the water-line to the pump 0, and in this passage, between the pump and cylinder, a valve, 6, is arrapged, opening into a passage, f, which leads to the lower part of the pump 0, so that as the piston E rises it will cause the valve 0 to open and the piston to draw from the boiler.

h is a second valve in the pumpG, which opens from the passage f into a passage, t, leading to the pump!) above the piston, and so that as the piston E descends the contents of the cylinder below the piston will be forced up through the passage f, through the valve 0, to the space above the piston. The space above the piston E in the cylinder is of less area than that below. This differential capacity of the two parts of the cylinder is produced by making the piston-rod above the piston of larger diameter than it is below thepiston. V

F is the outlet-passage from the pumps, which leads directly to the boiler.

l is a tube opening from the pump 0 above the piston, leading therefrom into a chamber, m, adjacent to the boiler-passage F.

n is a double-ended valve arranged to work upon a seat between the chamber at and the passage to the boiler, and upon a seat, p, in the passage 1", which leads from the pump A, so that when up it closes the passage to the boiler and when down it closes the outletpassage from the pump A. The passage 4* opens, by means of the valve 12, into a chamber, 8. Between the passage r and the chamberm and between the chamber 3 and the chamber in is a valve, t, opening from the chamber 8 into the chamber m.

H is an overflow-passage opening from the chamber m.

L is a valve seated so that'its lower end closes the passage H. The upper end, of larger diameter, is exposed to the boiler-pressure in the passage F.

The operation of the pump is as follows: Supposing the pump to start with the plunger and piston of the respective pumps both down, as the plunger and piston rise the plunger draws lrom the supply through the valve a. The piston E, at the same time rising, draws from the boiler through the valve 0, and if the water in the boiler be too high it will be water which is drawn from .the boiler, or it it be too low the cylinder below the piston will be filled with steam, in either case anboiler-pressure-that is, the cylinder below the piston is filled with hot water or steam, accordingly as the water-level in the boiler rises or falls below the point where the passage d enters the boiler. The passage F connects both pumps with the boiler at any convenient place for feeding, and through this passage all the wator for feeding purposes must pass. On the return or down stroke, which is the condition of the parts in the illustration, the valve a is closed, the double-ended valve n is forced upward and closes the passage to the boiler, but opens for the outlet of the water from the pump A. At the same time the valve topens communication between the pump A and the space above the piston in the pump 0 through the tube l, so that water from the pump A is forced into the cylinder of the other pump. As the piston E descends, the contents of the cylinder below, which it drew from the boiler in its upstroke, is forced through the passagef and valve it into the space above the piston. It the rise of the piston E has drawn steam from the boiler, that steam will on the downstroke be forced into the cylinder above the piston, and the water which is forced into the same space by the plunger B will compress orcondense the steam before it, until the whole charge has entered. At the beginning of the next upstroke the valve n is drawn down upon its seat to close the passage from the pump A, and the valve t is also closed.

The dropping of the valve it opens the passage F to the boiler. Then the water which has been forced into the pump 0 above the piston will return through the passage Z, and thence through the valve opening into the passage F to the boiler-that is to say, the water to feed the boiler is drawn by the pump A, forced into the pump 0, and by the pump 0 into the boiler. Now, suppose that the water in the boiler is above the water-level, and the piston E in its ascent has drawn water from the boiler to fill the space below the piston. In the descent of that piston water so drawn will be forced into the space above the piston. The pump A acts as before, closes the passage to the boiler by forcing the valve n to its upper seat. The water from the pump A attempts to pass into the pump above; but as that is being supplied by the water which it has already drawn from the cylinder there is no space for this water to enter. Hence the pressure on the water produced by the descent of the two pistons increases until it has risen to a point above the pressure of the boiler. Then this increased pressure acts upon the differential valve L, and causes it to rise and open the overflow-passage, so that the water willpass off to waste, or otherwise, and so continuing, ifthe water-level be below the entrance of the passage 61 to the boiler, the full amount of water drawn by the pump A passes into the boiler; but if the level ofthe water is above that point oficntra-nce to the boiler it passes through the overflow.

The piston-rod above the piston, as before stated, islarger than the rod below the piston. From this it follows that afull charge of water entering the cylinder below the piston on its upstroke cannot all be contained in the chamber above. Consequently on thedownstroke a small quantity of hot water must pass down through the passe-gel and mingle with the cold water discharged from the pump A, and

pass out at the overflow--that is to say, when the level of the water is too high in the boiler, not only will no fresh water enter the boiler, but a small predetermined quantityis actually drawn from the boiler and thrown off through the overflow. This predetermined quantity is the difference between the space above and below the piston,p'roduced by the different diameters of the piston-rods.

The overflow-valve L has always boiler-press ure upon it, and in the chamber at the area of the part which closes the overflow-passage is less than that part immediately above it. Hence when the pressure of water in the chamber m becomes greater than the boiler-pressure it follows that the pressure upon the valve upward will be greater than the boilerpressure downward. Hence the valve will be opened so soon as the pressure in the chamber m is greater than the boiler-pressure.

While I have rep v sented the two pistons as on the same rod, an prefer this arrangement, they may be otherwise arranged-as, for instance, upon opposite ends of a beam-it only being essentialthat the two pistons shall work simultaneously, both to draw at the same time, the first from the supply and the second from the boiler.

I represents screw-plugs over the valves, by the removal of which the valves may at any time be examined or repaired should occasion require.

1 claim 1. The combination of two pumps arranged with their pistons to work simultaneously, the first provided with an inlet-valve fromthe water-supply, the second connected with the boiler at the required water-level, a valve opening from the water-level passage into the cylinder of the second part on the side of the piston corresponding to the draft-stroke of the first pump, a passage from such receiving side of the piston ot' the second pump to the opposite side of the same piston, and a valve in said passage opening to said opposite side of the piston, a passage leading from the first pump to the second, a valve opening fromthe discharge-passage of the first pump into the passage between the two pumps, a passage to the boiler for feeding purposes, and a doubleended valve arranged between the passage from the first pump and the passage into the boiler, whereby when the passage from the first pump is opened by the descent of the plunger the passage to the boiler is closed, and vice versa, with an overflow-passage leading from the chamber or passage between the two pumps, and a differential valve in the passage from the pumps to the overflow, its smaller diameter closing the overflow, its larger diameter open to boiler-pressure, substantially as described.

1 2. The combination of two pumps arranged with their pistons to Work Simultaneously, the first provided with an inlet-valve from the water-suppl v, the second connected with the boiler at the required water-level, a valve opening from the Water-level passage into the cylinder of the second part on the side of the piston corresponding to the draft-stroke of the first pump, a passage from such receiving side of the piston of the second pump to the opposite side of the same piston, and a valve in said passage opening to said opposite side of the piston, the piston-rod on said opposite side of the piston of larger diameter than on the draft side, a passage leading from the first from the chamber or passage between the two pumps, and a differential valve in the passage from the pumps to the overflow, its smaller diameter closing the overflow, its larger diameter open to boiler-pressure, substantially as described.

THOMAS W. MATHER. Witnesses:

J OHN E. EARLE,

J 0s. 0. EARLE. 

